Jin Zhongyi, an official from Haining, Zhejiang Province, that used Weibo to highlight alleged water pollution originated from neighboring Hangzhou, said that his actions were meant to observe the response of official government accounts on social media platforms.

Speaking to the Beijing News on Thursday, Jin said he attempted to bring the pollution to the attention of Zhejiang's environmental protection bureau, specifically mentioning their Weibo account on the twitter-like media platform.

Jin posted several pictures of black water flowing out of a water-gate in an irrigation area on April 6, when he and his family went for a trip to Hangzhou's Xiaoshan District.

However, Jin said that it was a day later when he received a message from the bureau's Weibo account telling him what hotlines he can call; Jin feels that the sparse response wasn't timely enough.

The Haining official added that, in his opinion, Zhejiang's environmental bureau didn't take the issue seriously and it showed in their lack of action to address what he feels is potentially serious instance of water-contamination.

Hangzhou environmental protection authorities published a preliminary result of the water conditions in the area where Jin took the pictures on April 8.

The results ruled out the possibility of dumping by nearby chemical plants, which Jin said was the most-likely culprit of turning the water-way black. An official with the Hangzhou environmental protection bureau said the dark color of the water could've been caused by mud flushed out when floodgates at a nearby dam were opened to relieve rising water levels.

Jin's motives were questioned by some people on the Internet over Jin's position. Some say Jin was prejudiced on this matter.

Some questioned Jin's motivations for posting the pictures of the blackened water to Weibo.

The official said that he had been vocal about environmental issues concerning Haining before and has been critical of the local government's response to these issues in the past.

"I research the official accounts of governing bodies and I've been offering consulting services to many government departments. So my tone towards Zhejiang is not as an official, but as a Weibo user and teacher," said Jin.

The Haining official joined Sina Webo in 2008; he now has more than 1.3 million followers--a significant achievement not commonly seen among government officials using Weibo.

Over the past seven years, he has averaged 10 Weibo posts per day, according to calculations made by the Beijing News.

Jin said that he didn't mean to shame the provincial environmental protection authorities. In his opinion, however, a government account should be monitored around the clock.

He added that officials should embrace Weibo and actively engage netizens, so as to learn how to solve problems through new media platforms.

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